Richard K. Betts

Richard K. Betts is the Arnold Saltzman Professor of War and Peace Studies in the Department of Political Science, the director of the Institute of War and Peace Studies, and the director of the International Security Policy Program in the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University.

He received his BA, MA, and PhD in government from Harvard University. He has also served on the Harvard faculty as lecturer in government and as visiting professor of government. He was a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution until 1990. A former staff member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, the National Security Council, and the Walter Mondale presidential campaign in 1984. Betts has been an occasional consultant to the National Intelligence Council and Central Intelligence Agency. His writings have earned five prizes, including the Woodrow Wilson Award of the American Political Science Association for the best book in political science.

elected publications

* Soldiers, Statesmen, and Cold War Crises, 2nd Edition (Columbia University Press, 1991) ISBN 0231074697
* Surprise Attack: Lessons for Defense Planning (Brookings Institution, 1982) ISBN 0815709293
* Nuclear Blackmail and Nuclear Balance (Brookings Institution, 1987) ISBN 0815709358
* Military Readiness: Concepts, Choices, Consequences (Brookings Institution, 1995) ISBN 0815709056
* The Irony of Vietnam: The System Worked,coauthor and editor (1979) ISBN 0815730721
* Nonproliferation and U.S. Foreign Policy (1980)
* Cruise Missiles: Technology, Strategy, Politics, coauthor and editor (1981) ISBN 0815709315
* Conflict After the Cold War: Arguments on Causes of War and Peace, 2nd edition (Longman 2001) ISBN 032120946X

Articles

* "The Soft Underbelly of American Primacy: Tactical Advantages of Terror," in Political Science Quarterly (Spring 2002), reprinted in September 11, Terrorist Attacks, and U.S. Foreign Policy, edited by Demetrios James Caraley (Academy of Political Science 2002).